KEW IN FAVOUR 33 



where now are the royal stables ; then this took 

 the place of Kew as chief summer residence. 

 When the Richmond people found they were 

 like to lose such distinguished and profitable 

 neighbours, they sorely repented their refusal 

 to sell the bit of land coveted by the King, 

 which was now pressed upon him, but too 

 late to change his intention. That Naboth's 

 vineyard was eventually taken into the royal 

 grounds ; then by an Act of Parliament closing 

 " Love Lane," a public way between them, 

 George was able to unite the grounds of 

 Richmond and Kew, which long, however, 

 remained distinct enclosures. 



So George and Charlotte settled down, had 

 a large family, and lived happily in private life, 

 till fresh troubles came upon them. We should 

 all know Thackeray's sly account of that life : 



King George's household was a model of an English 

 gentleman's household. It was early ; it was kindly ; it 

 was charitable; it was frugal; it was orderly; it must 

 have been stupid to a degree which I shudder now to 

 contemplate. No wonder all the princes ran away from 

 the lap of that dreary domestic virtue. It always rose, 

 rode, dined at stated intervals. Day after day was the 

 same. At the same hour at night the King kissed 

 his daughters' jolly cheeks ; the princesses kissed their 



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